About Me

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West Virginia
When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

April 21, 2020

Life sure is quiet right now...

but for the most part, I find myself quite content during this "shelter in place, safe distancing, lockdown" process.  And a little nervous that with the election looming in November, it will be decided that we can go back to normal in the next few weeks.  There are places in our country that are jut now experiencing their highest number of new cases and I'm not at all surprised by that.  We are a HUGE country - about 3,000 miles across and since the virus was first noted at our eastern and western seacoast areas,  I think we should maintain the status quo at least til mid-May (which is just a couple of weeks) and evaluate then whether we can start going "back to normal".  And of course, with the financial devastation of businesses, huge unemployment, etc., "normal" won't be normal for who knows how long?

I'm going to randomly post photos now (mostly from the riverfront) because it'll help break up the tedium of my blah, blah, blah-ing......they're nothing special but they're peaceful and soothing just like my hikes down there are.  Yesterday I think I saw just 3 people!

I was leaving Starbucks one day (early March) and saw this butterfly.  Crept closer & closer amazed that he didn't flutter away.  Then realized that he was no longer a living butterfly but certainly was gorgeous!


So, I've mostly just been puttering around with things, doing some stitching (unfortunately more ripping out stitches than stitching it seems like), got my taxes done even though we were given til July to file our WV taxes and til October(!) to file the federal.  I'm filing mine now just so I can get it off the dining room table. :)


This photo was taken back in February as was the next photo.  See the little tree standing up behind the first tree on the left?  The river is up to where that big branch joins the trunk of the tree which is totally submerged.  The photo below is a sycamore tree although the white bark is not showing up - not enough sun, maybe?  You'll see it again as it looked yesterday in one of the last few pictures below.


I also started (back during the last week of January) before there was any sign of threat) to attempt to close all three exercise "rings" on my Apple watch.  I noticed that in January I had actually accomplished that on the last two days of January and decided that I was going to try and keep going through February.  Which I did, and then started in on March, which I also maxed, and am now finishing up with April and barring unforeseen circumstances, I'm pretty sure I'll get it filled too. 
   

Oops!  I see now that on March 4 I did not complete all the circles.  But the one I missed is IMHO the least important one because with that ring, you are to stand and move once every hour.  So if you are busy on the computer or maybe stitching (or ripping out!), you can easily miss an hour and you have to do it at least 12 times.  It kind of drives me crazy.








So all of that has meant a lot of walks down at the riverfront park and once everything went into lockdown, I also use the basically totally empty 2 story parking garage which has ramps and stairs and I can just huff and puff.

What I miss most, of course, is contact with people.  Starbucks was my community and I really miss being able to go down there and chat with the barristas, the Starbucks friends I have made, etc.  That and not being able to have lunch with my friend Jamie almost every Friday and not being able to go out for dinner and some wine with Cindy, another retired friend.  I did have a person to person visit with my friend Shelly one day.  She has a house with a front porch and I went over there to pick something up and we ended up sitting one on each side of the porch and had a nice visit.  I haven't attempted Zoom and won't - I have found in the last few years, that I am getting more and more frazzled with anything new in the internet world.  Plus I would not want anyone to see me if I would be looking like I look when I go to take a picture with my phone and discover this hideous looking person because I have accidentally changed it to selfie mode!!

This tree was absolutely stunning!  I've noticed that this seems to have been a perfect springtime.  All the things came into bloom without being frozen, and the blooms were just so abundant and lush.  Oh, and I just noticed -  that little tree right down at the river's edge is the one was partly under water.

On the other hand, it was also very apparent on my river walks that the river had been up very high (of course, it usually is as winter segues into spring).  But then, I'm not usually down there checking it all out under normal conditions.  I took the picture because those are tree trunks from who knows how far off that have been caught here in Huntington.  At some point, the park folks will get everything cleaned up but there's no sense doing it until the river is done going up and down.  The lower walkways all get covered with mud and you can see how high the water has been by the rows of debris left behind as it recedes. 


Oh, and, of course, I do love taking pictures out of my windows (which I keep wanting to clean, but it's been quite a while since I did that and I'm kind of scared of doing it now because it is really a pretty tough task - they're very heavy and very temperamental when it comes time to swing it back into place.  So, they're not too pleasant to look out.  But I ignore that and look out anyway because I love the view.

I'm stunned that the rays actually showed up in this photo.  It was truly a beautiful sight and I also loved the mist on the far hill.

And below another sky that I love to watch.  This time there was a very high wind blowing and as it finally started to rain (almost horizontally!), I kept hearing a kind of constant rattling noise - looked at all my screens to make sure they weren't going to blow away but that wasn't it.  I had noticed bits of flashing light in the dark clouds and assumed it was lightning but it was so dim and there were no loud cracks or anything.  It finally dawned on me that it must have been continuous rumbling thunder.  I've never experienced anything like that before.  All very impressive... (and I've tried and tried to get it centered but apparently Google doesn't want it centered)


And I'll finish off with yesterday's photos - this first one was just because I wanted to sit down and rest a minute and the view was so lovely.  The second one is looking down the row of trees which is similar to the winter view.  I have to say, this view is prettier...

And here's the sycamore, now looking like a sycamore and covered with nuts(?) and new leaves.

and last but not least, this is the only white duck (goose?) that I have seen on the river and the last few walks, he seemed to have flown the coop.  But yesterday he was back so all is well.  I've had a really hard time trying to get a decent picture of him...

Well, I've wasted enough time trying to get these photos into the post, that it's time for lunch.  I hope anyone reading this is staying safe and sane during this never-before experienced situation we find ourselves in.  And I hope that some good comes of it.  I saw an amazing video of pollution over China and then the same video during their lockdown when there were 2 or 3 barely visible patches of pale yellow.  And since people aren't rioting in the streets in protest, I can only assume that they are maybe actually kind of enjoying a different, more peaceful lifestyle.  I see probably work-at-home parents taking walks with their out of school children and they don't even seem to be looking at a phone - they're just walking and talking...

Stay well and safe - and vote in November!!


2 comments:

Chris B. said...

A nice diversion from work-at-home here...! That river never ceases to fascinate!

January said...

Nice photos, Mama! I was just commenting the other day after walking Freckles how much I love the way a sycamore looks in the sunlight, so your springy picture of the sycamore tree might be my favorite :)

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